


Midnight Guests

by jmajerus



Category: A Court of Thorns and Roses Series - Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-16
Updated: 2019-12-10
Packaged: 2021-02-07 10:10:03
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 3,799
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21456325
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jmajerus/pseuds/jmajerus
Summary: Elain wakes up to a crash in the middle of the night one night.  In fact it seems to be becoming a trend.  Things get moved around her kitchen at random and the only consistent things are a barely open window and her fridge door being left wide open.
Relationships: Elain Archeron/Azriel, Feyre Archeron/Rhysand
Comments: 6
Kudos: 82





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello all, back again with another short one.

_Fields of flowers stretched in every direction filling the meadow with the sweet and heady scent of spring. The songs of birds and the humming of honey bees called to her, beckoning her into the meadow. The dirt between her bare toes made her feel like taking root in this beautiful place where the sun was always shining and the flowers were always in blo—_

A crash somewhere in the distance made Elain Archeron jump up. The sound of glass shattering, silverware rattling, and something… rolling? Made her leap out of the bed, pull on a robe, and then pause as she reached her door, dark thoughts descending upon her mind.

She was a small single woman living alone and it was the middle of the night. Granted it was a nice neighborhood full of more established families, but that didn’t mean someone wouldn’t pray on an area like that. A mental check had her assured all of her windows and doors had been locked when she had gone to bed. It was something her older sister Nesta had drilled into her head a thousand times over when she had told her she was moving out on her own. 

Her phone was in her hand before she even realized who she was calling. Not the police though she was sure anyone else would have called them first. No. And certainly she wouldn’t call Nesta. That would only be the proof Nesta needed to make her move back into the tiny apartment the two of them had shared in college. No, her first and only call was to her younger sister.

“Elain? It’s… two in the morning,” Feyre croaked on the other end of the phone. 

“I think someone is in my house,” she whispered into the phone.

There was a slight pause, and then, “we are on our way.”

Elain knew exactly who the ‘we’ was. It was Feyre and her very amazing boyfriend Rhysand. The man was a godsend to Feyre and to Elain, not to Nesta since Nesta despised anyone who encouraged Elain to not be dependent on her. And while Feyre was perfectly capable of dealing with an intruder, it was Rhys that Elain felt far more secure with. If he said the house was clear, then it was clear. And if someone was in the house, he could have whoever subdued within seconds. 

Feyre called back only a couple minutes later. “You don’t need to talk,” she told Elain when Elain answered. “I just want you on the line in case something happens and so you know how close we are. If you can get outside somehow, it would be for the best.”

Elain looked to the window and nodded knowing that Feyre couldn’t see her. She opened it, popped out the screen just as Rhys had showed her right after she had moved in, and slipped out the window, dropping the five or so feet to the ground with an ungraceful thump.

“We are turning on Summer Street,” Feyre announced on the other end of the phone. “Five minutes.”

Elain glanced around her street at the dark houses lining the quiet avenue. Very nice houses with very nice families. She was the only single for blocks… except for her neighbor. She looked to his house, eyes drawn to the one window with lights on, not that anyone could really tell. Every window was covered with dark curtains. Only the small silver of light told her he might be awake.

While she was an anomaly in the neighborhood, it was clear she was accepted by the people there. Her neighbor, was not. A dark, handsome, tattooed, and broody man built like he might have a private gym somewhere in his large house that saw daily use, her neighbor was rarely seen outside during daytime hours. He never went to block parties or barbeques. He never stepped out to socialize with anyone passing by. Everyone was sure he was some mean man that was better off not joining the neighborhood activities.

But Elain also knew the man would mow the lawn of the elderly couple across from them while everyone was away at work. And she had heard the neighborhood children say he would always buy fundraiser items from them. So there was no possible way he was all that mean.

“Elain?” Feyre’s voice drew her from her thoughts of her neighbor. “We are just turning onto your street.”

And sure enough there were lights coming down the road and Rhys’ very nice sports car stopped just in front of her house. Elain walked out to meet them, realizing she would need to mow the lawn at some point since the grass tickled her ankles. Feyre jumped out of the passenger seat and pulled her into a hug as Rhys stepped around the car.

“Are you okay, El?” He asked seriously.

“Yes, just shaken.”

“I’m going to check it out,” he told her and that was very assuring. He took the spare keys from Feyre and walked to the front door. He had to use the keys which told her the intruder did not come in that way. After a few minutes the lights in the house turned on and Rhys came to the door to beckon them off the street.

“All clear. Your kitchen window is open but not enough for any human to have gotten in,” Rhys told her. “Maybe a raccoon or something. I probably scared it out when I came in.” She followed him into her kitchen and saw the broken water glass on the floor, her wooden pepper shaker on the floor where it seemed to have rolled a bit, and silverware knocked into the sink. That accounted for the noises she had heard. And the open window, Rhys was right. It was impossible for someone to have gotten in that way. It was a window that once unlocked, pushed outward on a hinge and was only open about three inches. There was a thick bush under the window that would have made climbing in impossible but might have provided an easy up for a raccoon or other animal.

“Your fridge door was open to,” Rhys told her. “But I closed that. Are you going to be able to go back to sleep?”

Elain looked to her fridge, to the slight mess in her kitchen, and then to Feyre and Rhys, both hastily dressed and had shown up at a moment’s notice in the middle of the night. The exact reason she had called them.

“Honestly, probably not. I’ll just be getting up for work in an hour or so,” Elain admitted. “But I’ll be fine.”

“I could never work your schedule,” Feyre shuddered. “But that’s why it’s you and not me.” Feyre came over and hugged her tight once more. Then Elain accepted a hug from Rhys. With a few extra farewells and thank you’s, they were on their way.

Elain only had a couple loves in her life. Flowers and baking. They were the only things she found herself completely at peace with. But it hadn’t been a realistic dream when she had gone to college, so she had gone to college for business while practicing her loves as hobbies on the side. But when Feyre had fallen in with Rhys and he had claimed her and her family as part of his, Elain had found herself more than encouraged to follow her passions.

Rhys had given her the business loan for the absolute perfect location and Elain had used her business degree to create a business plan for a flower shop that housed a patisserie. It was a labor of love and one that thrived in their town. She had quickly become the go to place for fresh pastries and floral arrangements.

It meant early mornings for her because she made sure she had a hand in every pastry that was sold even if she wasn’t full time in the bakery part of her shop. But she wouldn’t have it any other way as she breezed into her still dark shop and let herself into the kitchen that smelled of spices and comfort.

She was only alone until six in the morning when the twins arrived. Two dark women who spoke in whispers but had a way of knowing exactly what everyone person wanted. Nuala had a way with pastries that even Elain envied and Cerridwen ran the flower part of the shop for her when she was busy with the business side of everything. They weren’t her only employees but they were the ones she trusted the most. And soon enough as they grew busy with the day, the events of the night before fell away from her mind.


	2. Chapter 2

Returning home in the evening, Elain found herself surprised. Her lawn was freshly cut. There was no note inside and nothing missing from her fridge indicating it hadn’t been Rhys who would have left a note or Nesta’s boyfriend Cassian who would have helped himself to the tarts sitting front and center in her fridge and one of the ginger beers she kept on hand just for him. Wracking her brain she looked outside and across the street where she noticed the elderly couple’s lawn was also mowed, as was her dark and broody neighbor’s. That left him as the only possible culprit, something that made her feel both giddy and uneasy at the same time. It was sweet that he did it, but did he think her incapable?

It wasn’t that she couldn’t do it herself. She had a mower in her back shed along with all of her gardening tools. She had mowed the lawn herself several times, but often Cassian or Rhys beat her to it not because they thought her incapable but because they liked being rewarded. Cassian did it for sweets and Rhys did it for flower bouquets for Feyre. Perhaps her neighbor had only ever seen them doing it for her and had thought her incapable.

Well, she wasn’t incapable and he was going to get something for doing her lawn. She wasn’t someone just to sit idly by and let someone do something for her without acknowledging it. Though he was already gone for work as the lack of car in his driveway suggested, she whipped up a batch of banana bread, waited for it to cool, and then left it wrapped in a basket on his doorstep with a thank you note, after all, what person didn’t like banana bread?

Elain found herself awake half an hour before her alarm and groaned. She wanted to sleep until her alarm, but her body had other ideas. So she rose and went to start some tea to steep while she had her shower, but stopped short as she turned on the light in the kitchen. Her window was open a few inches and so was the fridge. She closed both and looked around for anything else moved. Nothing at all except for one dish towel sitting on the floor.

Confused she looked around hoping for some sort of answer but there was none. Nothing to indicate what might have happened or who might have been in her house. The door was still locked, the other windows were all closed, and nothing else in the entire house was out of place. She sent a short text to Feyre to tell her it had happened again. There was no need to call her and have them come over for them to find nothing new. She wasn’t even scared at this point, just confused.

She stopped on her way out the door to peek over the fence at her neighbor’s doorstep. His lights were off and the basket was missing from the front door. There was always a chance someone else had helped themselves to it, but it was unlikely in this neighborhood. With a smile, feeling like she had done something good in return, she skipped to her car to go to work.

Elain’s door was wide open when she returned home but she didn’t have to wonder who was there. It was Rhys and Cassian arguing loudly with each other while Feyre stood outside watering the front garden.

“Hello,” Feyre grinned at her when she stopped next to her sister. “The flowers were looking a bit droopy so I thought I’d help!”

“And what are the boys arguing about?” Elain asked with a nod to the open door.

“The best way to install cameras in your house and what angles they want. I told them the one in the kitchen and on that window would likely be sufficient, but you know them,” Feyre rolled her eyes.

“Cameras?” Elain frowned at the house.

“Rhys thought it might help figure out what was going on and you know how he hates a mystery,” Feyre rolled her eyes and Elain did as well. Rhys was all about mysteries of his own but the moment someone else had a secret or something that needed puzzling out, he had to snoop and pry until there was an answer. “And, of course, Cassian couldn’t just let him do it alone.”

“Of course not! Have you ever seen Rhys do anything properly? How long did it take him to ask out your sister, and he made a fool of himself with that too!” Cassian came to stand in the doorway. “Now me and you have to talk, Missy.” He put on a stern face that had her frowning. “How could you give MY treats to that heathen neighbor of yours!?” 

“Oh, was it you that mowed my lawn?” Elain asked, eyebrow raised. She knew it hadn’t been. She knew Cassian didn’t mean any of his insults that he threw over lost food.

“Well, no… but…” Cassian fumbled. 

“And how did you know about that anyway?” Elain asked. It had only been the night before and she hadn’t mentioned it to anyone.

“Oh, the neighbor came over to bring your basket back. Handsome man,” Feyre wiggled her eyebrows at Elain suggestively.

“And more importantly, it turns out your neighbor is an old friend of Rhys’ and mine from back in the day. When he heard what we were here doing, he offered to help keep an eye on your house when he’s home.” Cassian offered. 

Elain wasn’t sure why, but that made her far more nervous than anything else.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please leave any comments, criticisms, complaints, love, suggestions, prompts, or other such things. Additionally I have an original work I've been slowly posting if anyone is interested in stopping over to read it. I could always use the collective internet eye on it.


	3. Chapter 3

Elain woke to her alarm the next morning and found the kitchen as she had the morning before. The fridge was opened, the butter dish had moved a bit, a wooden spoon had gone from the counter to the floor, and the window above the sink was open though she had very firmly latched it the night before. But at least the cameras were on it now and she could take a look at the footage when she got home. 

Curiosity nagged her mind all day but she forced herself to stay focused on her work until she was no longer needed. And when she could finally escape, she went home and sat down in front of the computer to pull up the feed from the night before. It was a lot of looking at nothing changing until something dashed across her driveway at two in the morning. No amount of zooming in or slowing the video down could tell her what it was, but she suspected some sort of animal. 

About half an hour later on the feed, something small, low to the floor, and dark slinked into her kitchen from around the doorframe. Fear struck her heart as her mind went to something paranormal. A demon or poltergeist in her house! But then it came into focus and Elain found herself laughing at her own folly. It was a cat. A black cat that looked like little more than a shadow as it slinked towards the fridge. And then the cat jumped onto the counter, sending the wooden spoon to the floor, and she watched it very carefully nudge open the fridge door. If she hadn’t been watching, she wouldn’t have believed it. It rooted around the fridge for a moment, then got up on the counter again, walked to the sink, unlatched the window, and slipped out as if it had never been there. Where it went from there, the cameras hadn’t seemed to have caught, nor how it had gotten in.

A text from Feyre drew her attention to her phone and away from her computer monitor. 

_Feyre: Did you see who it is? Rhys is dying to know._

_Elain: It was a cat._

_Feyre: A cat? You’re sure?_

_Elain: I saw it on the feed._

_Feyre: Lol! Rhys is mad. He and Cassian had a bet on if it was a ghost. Rhys lost._

_Elain: I would have thought Cassian believed in ghosts before Rhys._

_Feyre: Oh he does, but Cassian stood by even a ghost wouldn’t leave your sinful treats alone, so therefore, not a ghost._

_Feyre: I’d better go soothe his fragile Illyrian ego. Enjoy your kitty companion._

Elain chuckled and set her phone down. Well, at least it wasn’t something menacing. It was only a cat. That made her feel much better about the situation, but she still needed to know how it was getting in and if it belonged to someone. And such a thing was better solved immediately, so Elain quickly sent a message to Nuala and Cerridwen to ask them to open the store without her the next morning and set about preparing to catch a cat in the act.

A warm cup of tea in her hands, Elain left the house dark at 1 AM while she sat in her office watching her computer monitor. And sure enough, at 2 AM she saw the blur go across her driveway. She waited, staring at the monitors and listening for any noise in the silent house to indicate where the cat was getting in. But there was nothing and she questioned if she was possibly crazy at least a dozen times.

And then she heard a plate scrape across the counter in the kitchen and smiled to herself. Her kitchen trap had at least worked. Getting up, she crept to the kitchen and flipped on the light, half expecting the cat to startle and run. But instead the slight black thing glanced back at her, deemed her not a threat, and returned to the plate of canned tuna that Elain had left sitting on the counter for it. From its complete lack of care or alertness, she was sure it was someone’s pet and not a stray.

She moved closer slowly and smiled at her luck. It had a collar which meant its owner likely knew it was a roamer and she hoped whoever owned the cat had left an address or phone number.

“Who is a pretty kitty?” Elain cooed as she approached the cat. It was well cared for, slender but long, shiny black fur. Its collar stood out cobalt blue against the inky fur, the tag sewn onto the back of the collar, silver etched on black.

_Shadow_

_187 Meadow Lane_

Elain blinked and blinked again. Her house number was 185 which meant Shadow belonged to her brooding and very good-looking neighbor. The cat, seemingly gorged on tuna, started to purr deeply and turned to nuzzling into the hand that Elain had placed near it. It even offered its belly up to her, showing her very clearly it was a male.

Lights moving outside her window drew her eyes up to look out at the street where a sleek black car was pulling into the driveway next door. Well… it was now or never, she decided. She lifted the purring cat up and it curled into her arms like a baby as she carried it to the door and outside.

Her neighbor must have been faster than she thought because he was already inside by the time she reached his house. Not allowing herself a moment to hesitate, she knocked. The door opened less than ten seconds later and Elain found herself staring at her neighbor’s very broad chest and shoulders that were mostly covered by a tight t-shirt. Black tattoos curled down out from under the sleeves of his shirt, drawing her eyes down his toned arms to mottled, swirling scarred skin on his hands that looked like he might have been burned, but still…

“Beautiful,” she breathed out.

“Excuse me?” His deep, velvet voice drew her eyes back to his face and she blinked up at him. 

“Oh! I’m sorry!” She cursed herself for being so stupid. “We haven’t met yet and I’ve been meaning to introduce myself but I’m sorry I haven’t yet so this feels pretty abrupt. But your cat has been breaking into my house the last few nights and did you know he can open fridges?” Elain rushed the words out all in one breath. 

The man’s hazel eyes slid down to the cat in her arms and over to her house, then back to the cat, then up to her face again as if he was reading the entire situation.

“You fed the little monster, didn’t you?” He asked, his voice turning soft as the cat nuzzled deeper into Elain’s chest, purring.

“I’m sorry, I was just trying to get him to stay still long enough to know where he belonged! I hope I didn’t ruin whatever diet you might have him on.” She stopped when the man held up a scarred hand.

“Don’t apologize. He isn’t on a diet and he’s spoiled rotten,” the man reached down to take the cat from her to hold it up eye to eye with himself. “We’ve talked about you breaking into people’s houses,” he told the cat sternly. “And it seems we need to speak about it again.”

Elain giggled at the stern lecture, drawing a very handsome smile from the man.

“I’m Azriel,” he offered to her.

“Elain,” she offered back.

“Would you like to come in for some tea and we can see what I can do to make up for this monster terrorizing you?” Azriel cast a stern glance at the cat that was already retreating into the house without a care in the world.

She had to get some sleep at some point and she still intended to work the next day. Tea with the neighborhood oddity wasn’t conducive to either of those things. But his smile was genuine and peeking past him to the maze of cat walkways going up the walls in the hallway and around doorways into other rooms she decided she might like to get to know this man a little better.

“Tea would be lovely.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And fin! Please leave all comment, questions, prompts, criticisms, hate, etc here. Also please check out my other works, including my original work Blessed that I have been posting up slowly. (I promise its fully written but I'm editing as I post it which is the time consuming part.) Thank you all for your support.

**Author's Note:**

> Please leave comments, I live for them!


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